[speaker not understood] by cops. and [speaker not understood] in the city of san francisco to have more community relationship with youth of san francisco. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. (applause) good evening, supervisors. [speaker not understood] and youth commission and the rest of the community. my name is [speaker not understood]. i'm the director of community engagement at bernal heights neighborhood center. as part of the efforts to bridge the communication gap between the community members, youth and police, we in district 9 held a youth summit with other cbos. we just talked about t. we can only create safe schools for the long term if students, educators and community based organizations play a key role in identifying and creating implementing strategies to deal with safety concerns and causes of crime. students, educators and cbos know their schools and communities better than anyone else. they spend their time in them and have created relationships that give them access to

information to know how to deal with safety concerns. we all know enforcement alone will never address crime at its roots. we must consider the community-based organizations to support our youth. they are as important as maintaining safe schools and communities just as sfpd. so, as you continue to hear the rest of our youth today, we look to you to address the concerns and understanding that youth input and participation is vital to providing input and feedback to ongoing police and teacher training, providing sufficient resources to our schools, measuring and defining safe schools, on a personal note i attended balboa high school many years ago. and, you know, looking at the bars and the gates, i feel like the school is a prison. by bringing police officers to a school like balboa, we run the risk of making it feel even more like a prison. we have to remember our schools are not prisons. police should be in schools to allow kids to feel safe. this can only come from building great relationships with our youth and to do that we need to ensure there is

ongoing proper training for police officers and educators and our resource to do all that is expected of them. so, the question are how will we measure the students are feeling safe, not threatened? it's not about the numbers of youth being arrested, but numbers of youth that feel safe and feel free to pursue learning. the number of youth that are referred to appropriate programs from after school job training to family services. so, how will youth, educators and parent community educators be involved in the process and evaluation? everyone needs to have a say in the process in order for it to work. if this is done right we have an opportunity to further mend the relationship continues and the police and to create [speaker not understood]. i ask all of you to join us in building a safe and healthy community with shared responsibility, one which acknowledges that police are partction of the equation and ensuring that youth are part of the solution. we're youth educators and police to act, create mutual [speaker not understood] rather

than. thank you, i'm sorry, thank you. >> thank you. i'm sorry. (applause) * part. good evening, my name is laura, i'm the statewide education rights director for council law center and we appreciate the time actually the superintendent, special superintendent has taken in pulling input from the community on this important m-o-u. at public council we have represented and provided support to thousands of students who have been pushed out of school and into the school to prison pipeline. if we want to really increase our graduation rates as we talked about this evening, in particular for our students who are most vulnerable and our students of color, school discipline must be handled by our schools first and foremost and not our police officers. the research shows very clearly that even one contact with the juvenile justice system quadruples a young person's chance of dropping out. so, this m-o-u really must focus on who we are referring to law enforcement, for what reasons we're doing it and utilize alternatives to arrest

and ensure ongoing accountability along the lines of what these young people talked about. where the community knows what the data is, what the police are doing on our campuses and how they are interacting with our schools. and that the board is also involved in that process of understanding the role of police officers and whether they are, in fact, improving our school climate, including relationships that help foster safe communities and one that is graduating our most vulnerable students. so, r we look forward to continuing to persist during the process and we hope you will look at some of the research based and evidence based alternatives that are out there that are really showing progress in other parts around the nation for both ensuring high graduation rates and also school safe. thank you. >> thank you. (applause) >> next speaker. hello, my name is [speaker not understood]. i'm the program associated for homey's organization for empowering youth. i want to thank the committee for allowing me to speak for a moment. i run a couple workshops, a few workshops in fact both on-site

at sfusd. when we brought to the attention the youth there was an opportunity to speak about a m.u. -- m-o-u and the police department how they were treated they emphatically wanted to speak up and demonstrate and present their opinion. i'm here to present some of the youth. to give you an exam polynomial of how the youth feel and how the relationship between the youth and the police s we normally have between 15 and 25 youth at our police. many of them do not want to show up because they do not feel comfortable coming here to speak up and perhaps maybe criticize the police. so, here are some of our members. hello, my name is [speaker not understood]. we would like to share a personal story from our members. one day she was arrested in school by the cops in the classroom. she said, i hate it because the next day when i went back to school, everyone looked at me, looked at me funny and the teachers treated me different and said stuff, i will call

your probation officer if you get in trouble. thank you. i now would like to present [speaker not understood]. hi, my name is jocelyn ruiz and i'm a member. i want to share some thoughts to you guys from some of the members on how this should be done. we think that on an arrest, we wait until the class is finished because it can cause [speaker not understood]. a counselor should not be notified prior to the arrest and a school ally should pull student from a class not a police officer. the kid should remain private and confidential so youth will not be humiliated at school. when the youth is being arrested he or she should get his miranda rights read and be charged like any other arrest. no excessive force unless absolutely necessary. police should be respectful even when they get arrested. some experience cops who humiliated them. the police are there to protect us and they shouldn't make us

feel intimidated. thank you. >> thank you very much. (applause) >> next speaker. anyone else? thank you. my name is kevin bogus. i work with coleman advocates for children and youth. i work with youth at balboa high school, third and high school, june john high school and thurgood marshall academic high school. and i'm here representing our youth who couldn't be here today. they had strong feelings about the m-o-u process. and just to ensure that it's really respectful to students and the way that it's created and developed. so, i'm really glad to hear them speak about extending the process for more community groups to get them involved and make sure we do more than what was in the previous m-o-u to make sure students rights are respected where students won't be arrested in the classroom, where the police department is actually submitting data and reports about what they are

doing in the school so that the community can be aware of it and make sure that things are happening in a way that we kind of envision them. we work with a lot of students who had issues with the police, being harassed by the police in their neighborhood to being profiled. it makes them it important for police to be at school to provide safety. it's really about how do we bridge that gap and make sure the police are there to serve and work with the students rather than there to make sure that people fall in line. our youth want to see clear outlines of the role of the police officer at school sites. and the thing that they will not get involved with like school discipline, someone breaking the school policies, as well as students having a say in which officers actually get to be at their schools. a lot of our youth were concerned with the fact that when police come to their school, they carry pistols and guns, which doesn't promote safety at campus. we would hope that police on campus wouldn't feel the need to shoot any student.

>> thank you. (applause) >> commissioner fewer, did you have a question? >> no. i was going to comment. that's okay. >> i know we have some members of the youth commission here. good afternoon, commissioners and supervisors. my name is paul, i am a member of the san francisco youth commission. i'm also a resident of district 9. and the youth commission is actually really optimistic about this memorandum of understanding. we feel that it is something that mainly fosters great relationships, mutual respect between the police department as well as students. but at the same time we really want to set a very clear expectation for the san francisco police department and also the unified school district, and that being that in the design, the practice and the implementation of this memorandum we really want to make sure that the students are not treated as subjects, but instead as active stakeholders in this process. we feel like students' input should be involved in the design, but also take into consideration things like students' involvement in the selection of [speaker not

understood], also evaluation of [speaker not understood], that is really important. and as well as what was said earlier, to the extent you have student input, what that does is it affirms and values that students have a voice na process and their opinions are valued as equal to the people who are behind designing these policies. we hope you can send that message to the students and you can support the involvement and their investment and that you actively work to seek their legitimate input in the designing of this program. thank you. >> thank you, commissioner. thank you for your service. next speaker. if i may please have y'all undivided attention. good afternoon, honorable supervisors and members of the board of ebbv cakes. my name is angel [speaker not understood]. i'm a san francisco college student majoring in political science. i am the youth commissioner for district 10 appointed by supervisor malea cohen. i spent time in group homes and two consecutive years in

juvenile hall. since then i've come a long way and thankful for being part of the youth commission in addition to working with the juvenile department. we heard from the youth and what they expect from the m-o-u. we share similar concerns to how you'ring out feel. we believe that including youth in the selection and valuation of the sro [speaker not understood] between our youth and officers. we, too, believe that adequate training for our police on how to deal with the city's young people will ensure safety between the police and our youth. in our historical joint hearing between the police and the youth commission on march 7th of this year we had three simple recommendations that were agreed to by the chief. one of which included an updated m-o-u and i have three here for you so you guys can see. one of which included an updated m-o-u in addition to a widespread pamphlet and

training for officers when encountering youth on the streets. we still don't know what [speaker not understood] on two of those recommendations. however, today fortunately for the youth the m-o-u was the topic on today's agenda. and the youth commission strongly urges you to consider all the recommendations and concerns brought to you by the great city's young people. thank you all for your time. >> thank you very much, commissioner. (applause) >> and thank you for continuing to serve as an example to the young people in the city. is there any other member of the public who would like to speak? seeing none, public comment is closed. i do think it is important for -- i want to appreciate the school district for taking the time to hear from youth in the community and to get input on the m-o-u. i think it would be helpful at some point to also hear from the police department. i know that they're not here right now. oh, okay, i'm sorry. please come forward. -- please, captain, come

forward. thank you, sir, for waiting. >> it is my pleasure. good evening and good evening to everyone in the audience. the police department welcomes, obviously, the input on the m-o-u from the juvenile commission. as the last commissioner said, there were three points that were brought up i believe it was a march meeting of this year. first being the m-o-u which we still have to finish, but we encourage the youth participation in drafting that m-o-u. the second is the know your rights pamphlet. and i met with superintendent guerrero if at this meeting. the know your rights pamphlet is in my office. ly have them delivered to the school district and they will be distributed. we have prepared those in

english, spanish, and chinese language. so, we have three versions. and finally the third issue was the training. members of the san francisco police department are undergoing constant training. recently we drafted a brand-new juvenile general order that you're probably familiar with, 7.01. we have been undertaking department wide training in that general order. and that general order, for everybody's information, gives juvenile detainees even more rights in san francisco than they're guaranteed by the penal code. it was an exhaustive negotiation to develop that order. we developed it with the asian law caucus and the office of citizens complaints. it is a comprehensive order and all of our officers are being trained in that. with respect to the s-r-os, we

do try and get s-r-os into the schools who are -- who have an interest in working with the police are like everyone else in every vocation. there are good ones and there are some that don't measure up. [speaker not understood] the s-r-o work with the students at the school, we can address that issue if it becomes a problem. but we are trying and we are listening. we've been here all day. >> thank you very much. if you can identify yourself for the folks who are watching. >> i am commander john loft us. i am in charge of the investigations. >> thank you, commander. i appreciate that. my apologies. i didn't realize you were there, so, we thank you for -- if i can simply add something. i think it's wonderful that you're making progress on the three recommendations and certainly the m-o-u being the focus of this hearing, i think it's a good thing.

and great with the pamphlet. i do think on the issue of the training, though, i'll be honest and i'll look forward to continuing the conversation with the chief and with the police commission, our expectation was that there would actually be more along those lines, you know. the kind of training that was envisioned during the joint hearing of the youth commission and the police commission was a best practices training that is unlike anything that was already in the works by the police department. i'm very familiar with the dgo, but it really was training that went beyond the implementation of the dgo. and, in fact, there was a separate presentation where we brought a national expert that made a presentation of the kind of training that they're doing in cities like boston. so, i'm aware that there is some additional training that's being provided, but i really

hope that we go beyond what you described. and i think the expectation from the youth commission is that we will go beyond what you described. and, so, i know i just want to make that point because i think that there is a need for additional conversation with the chief of police on that because what you describe is a good thing, it's a positive development. in my estimation it doesn't go far enough. >> i understand. >> supervisor fewer. >> thank you. i am wondering, do we have to have a m-o-u? do we have to have police in our schools? i think that -- i understand that discipline should be handled by school personnel. we have our trained personnel that deal with discipline. if something is a criminal matter, we can call the police like everybody else. you said the school cards work

just fine. i don't understand why we have to have police in our schools. quite frankly, there is a difference between probable cause and reasonable cause. and it is true that our cities have less rights in our schools than they do have on the street. * students considering the police force, 75% of the sworn officers live outside of san francisco in communities, many communities where they are not used to being with people of color and our schools are 95% students of color, i think that i would like to explore the possibility that we no longer have police officers in our schools and that we have a relationship with the police, of course, in our community policing b with you don't necessarily have to have them on our school site. i think police can be just as effective, quite frankly * . if you call them in, the response time is excellent. i commend you for the training, but i would like, just to bring

this to my fellow commissioners, that perhaps we have now started a precedent in our schools that we are looking at a less punitive form of discipline and a more restorative approach. and that perhaps it is a new day that we are not in need of having police officers actually on our sites. and that if our schools are in need of a police officer when something criminal is happening, then indeed we would call the police. and those rights that the students are learning i think would come into play also at that time. but i think that we should open up the conversation to whether or not this is something that our school district actually needs. and knowing the limited resources that the city has around police services, that maybe they could be better used at the district station. and if we should need their assistance, that, of course we would call.

>> commissioner maufus. actually, commissioner mendoza. >> thank you. i have kind of a reverse comment, commissioner fewer. [speaker not understood]. can we just make sure we're thinking about the difference between our s-r-os and our [speaker not understood] outside of the s-r-o? i think there is a difference in the way in which they're trained and ways in which they relate to our students. and, so, just want to make sure that this is -- actually all of your officers are getting trained to work well with students and that there are some conversations that happen around that. >> working with juveniles is a large part of our training. obviously i agree with you that the s-r-o should receive even more training because if they're going to be in an environment where they're with students for the entire shift, they should get the most training that we can provide them. >> thank you.

>> commissioner maufus. >> thank you, chair campos. just a quick comment to commissioner fewer's comment is that, yes, it is a new day, but there are also old practices that happen. and as with turn over and rotation, you know, if we don't have some sort of memorializing document even denoting the very simplest of understandings about school, school property, who is in charge when something does occur, or who will be the lead, i just think that is really the beginning of why we need an m-o-u just to memorialize those very simple and basic understandings as generations of officers, principals, school site staff, you know, come and go through our city and our schools. and that's the only comment i wanted to make. hopefully we can continue this. >> thank you. thank you very much. and, colleagues, i apologize to the members of the public, we

are about to lose a quorum. but let me just simply say that the question of whether or not police officers should be on schools -- at schools, that's ultimately something that the board of education decides. you know, we as a body here do not have the authority to say one way or the other. where we come in is that if the position of the board of education is continue to have that, then there is a memorandum of understanding that outlines that relationship. then i think it is appropriate for this committee to discuss that, which is what we're doing. but ultimately the decision of whether to allow or not allow, that's ultimately up to the san francisco unified school district through its board of education and, you know, in consultation with the superintendent of schools. so, that's not our decision to make here today. but if it's okay with my colleagues, if we can have a motion to continue to the call of the chair, and we will make

sure this item is at the top of the agenda for the next meeting of the joint committee to make sure that we have, you know, a resolution on this issue. so, can we have a motion? motion by commissioner maufus, seconded by commissioner fewer. if we can take that without objection. and again, we want to thank all the members of the public who have waited patiently, to my colleagues as well. and the staff and the school district and the city agencies. madam secretary, is there any other business before the committee? >> no, supervisor. >> meeting adjourned. thank you. [adjourned]

>> it was an exciting event for those who wanted some long needed improvements. >> they saw it and they took care of it. >> the project is expected to open in spring, 2013. for more on the playground, includ >> i want to learn more about e-mails, internet. er >> social networking and e-mail. >> i want to know how to use it. >> the digital divide is essentially the divide between those who have access to these

digital tools and those who don't. >> these young people is having computers and i just don't know, they're doing it fast. so, i want to know. >> not knowing how to navigate the internet is at a loss of what to do. >> we don't have a computer. >> we are non-profit that unites organizations and volunteers to transform lives through digital literacy. our big right now is the broadband technology opportunity program, a federally funded project through the department of aging so we're working in 26 locations, our volunteers are trained to be tutors and trainers offering everything from basic classes all the way to genealogy and job search. >> to me, a computer aon auxiliary brain, it's like knowing how to use your brain,

how important is that. i think it's important and possibly seniors, it's important for them to stay in touch. er >> people like facebook or skype so they can connect to their family members or see their family member's albums from far away. >> (speaking spanish). >> what we like to focus on is transferring skills from volunteer to learner to help them get on to facebook, find housing on craig's list, being able to connect with friends

and family. >> i decided teaching them what i knew and that got me into wanting to give back and to learning more and how it works. >> i discover -- i discovered that seniors need a lot of review. >> i am beginner so little by little, i learn a lot now. >> i learned just the basics, if you get the basics, you can learn it, if you don't get the basics, you're lost. >> it's simple, it's easy, once you know it and that's what i want to learn, how to make my life easier and more knowledgeable with a computer. >> so, what we need right now are more people who speak languages other than english or in addition to english, who can give their time during the day and who care deeply ideally about helping to close the digital divide. >> you know, its's a humbling experience, it could be something simple to us in our

daily lives but to someone that doesn't know and to help somebody gain that experience in any way, it's awesome. >> (speaking spanish). >> no matter how tired or cranky or whatever i miekt feel when i walk into this class, i walk out feeling great. >> if you feel comfortable using a cuter and you have patience, we want you on our team. >> with they showed me how to do skype. >> will you help me learn more?